Wednesday, 19 September 2018

Apple is always known for producing premium phones. Every year they come up with a new flagship phone. This year Apple launched three new iPhones in it's event. But this is the second time Apple has launched a cheaper version of iPhone. First time was during the launch of iPhone 5S where they came out with a cheaper version of iPhone known as iPhone 5C. iPhone 5C was a plastic phone and was a big flop. And this year also the third iPhone is a cheaper version of iPhone. This is known as iPhone XR. So is this phone really worth considering or not? We are going to discuss this question in this article.

Apple iPhone XR has many of the features same as the other two premium devices of this year that are iPhone XS and XS Max. Like they all are powered by the same chip that is the all new A12 Bionic chip. So it means there is no compromise on the performance of the phone. The amount of RAM is also same, so RAM management will also be good. As it has the same chip all the things related to chip will be same such as GPU for better graphics, octa core neural engine and ISP for image processing.

As neural engine is same so iPhone XR will be able to handle all the AI tasks which iPhone XS can handle such as face ID, Augmented Reality, Animoji, Siri etc. Also it has the same notch which houses front camera, IR Blaster, Infrared Camera, ear piece, microphone, dot projector, ambient light sensor and proximity sensor. As it has all the sensors same as iPhone XS, it also has the same Face ID to unlock the phone. And this will be equally fast as iPhone XS.

Now let's talk about the design of the phone. This has a screen size of 6.1". This screen also has a notch at top as mentioned above. So the aspect ratio of the screen is also 19.5:9. But the display is not an OLED display, it's a LCD display and that too with less resolution that is 828*1792 pixels. The resolution is slightly higher than 720p still you can't even watch full HD videos on this screen. This is a little bit disappointing. But we know that the quality of Apple's LCD display is also very good still it won't be as good as iPhone XS's display. The back of the phone is made up of glass and the frame is made up of aluminum instead of stainless steel.

Also there is one more thing to consider in iPhone XR. The bezels of the phone are slightly bigger than other two phones. This is due to presence of LCD display which can't bend like OLED display on iPhone XS. Also the PPI of the phone is slightly low that is 326ppi. So this phone won't be your choice if your priority is display.

Now let's talk about camera. iPhone XR has the single camera setup at back unlike Apple iPhone XS and XS Max. But this single camera lens is same as the primary lens on other two iPhones that is 12MP, f/1.8, 28mm lens. The pixel size and aperture size is also same which is really good. But the telephoto lens is missing so there is no optical zoom. Still portrait mode is present on the phone and this is done by software. This can also record 2K videos and slomo videos. It has all the features also same like auto HDR and changing the background depth after capturing photos which is a good thing. Also the front camera is same that is 7MP,f/2.2, 32mm lens. So in short this camera can do all the tasks as the cameras of iPhone XS and XS Max except 2x optical zoom.

iPhone XR comes in six different colors just like iPhone 5C. These colors are Black, Red, Yellow, Blue, Coral and White. This reminds us of the iPhone 5C which also comes in multicolor but that one has plastic body. The aluminum frame on the sides also matches the color of the back which is good. The wireless charging is also present on this phone. This phone comes with IP67 rating while the other two devices come with IP68 rating which means that the other two phones are more protected by water and dust. The battery capacity of iPhone XR is still unknown but the phone supports fast charging which is good. And it is expected that the battery capacity of this phone will lie between iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max's battery.

Now comes the pricing of the device. iPhone XR is priced at $750 for the 64GB of version. Apple has gone right with this pricing of smartphone. So the main question is 'Should you upgrade to iPhone XR or not?'. Yes you can upgrade to this phone if you are an Apple fan boy and you want to taste the flavor of new A12 bionic chip and all it's new features you can definitely go for this. But keep in mind the bigger bezels, LCD screen, IP67 rating and no optical zoom/no telephoto lens. If you are using an iPhone 8/7/6 but want a smartphone more affordable than iPhone XS and XS Max, you can definitely go for this smartphone. The phone will be avialble in the market from next month.